KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After hearing that Agape Boarding School was closing its doors, many former students and Missouri lawmakers took a moment Wednesday to celebrate.
Some said they teared up. Others said they were relieved because they had nearly given up hope that the unlicensed Cedar County school would close. Still more said the news was almost bittersweet.
“Not exactly how I wanted the doors shut, but I’ll take what I can get,” said Colton Schrag, of Texas, who attended Agape two different times from 2004 to 2010. “Regardless of how the school is closed down, no further boys will be victimized and abused by the staff at Agape.”
Added James Griffey, of southern California, who attended Agape from 1998 to 2001: “It’s a victory. Is it the victory we wanted when we were seeking justice? No. We wanted the authorities to render some sort of punishment to these child abusers, but since that wasn’t going to happen, this is the next best thing.”
The school’s former director announced the closure Wednesday afternoon.
The decision, said Bryan Clemensen, who recently stepped down, was voluntary and “solely due to the lack of financial resources to continue caring for the boys.” He has denied that any students ever were abused at the school.
The Star has been investigating Agape and other unlicensed boarding schools in southern Missouri since late summer 2020.
Many men who attended Agape in their youth said they were subjected to physical restraints, extreme workouts, long days of manual labor, and food and water withheld as punishment. And, they said, former students endured constant berating and mind games and some were physically and sexually abused by staff and other youth.
The school had gone from about 120 students in early 2021 to two dozen last month.
Aaron Hermanson was at his engineering job Wednesday afternoon when he saw news of the closure and was “fighting back tears at my desk.”
In late 2020, Hermanson shared his stories with The Star of the abuse he said he endured while at Agape from early 2009 to July 2011.
“You can’t go back in time and stop them from doing it to me and other people,” Hermanson said Wednesday. “But you can stop them from doing it to any more students.”
In the past two years, lawmakers listened to Schrag and other former students describe the abuse they said they suffered and how their time at the school had forever changed them. The legislature passed a bill late in the 2021 session implementing some regulations on schools like Agape.
“One of the most important duties of government is to protect the most vulnerable of citizens,” said former Rep. Dottie Bailey, a strong advocate for former boarding school students who questioned the state’s lack of action against unlicensed schools for years. “Here, where children were subjected to systematic and institutional abuses, government agencies and state oversight at all levels repeatedly failed and ignored horrific issues.”
Bailey said that though she was “humbled” to have been able to use her office “along with many others to stop this travesty, this never should have reached the legislature and must in the future serve as a cautionary tale for the people of Missouri and banner of shame.”
In September, the Missouri attorney general and the Department of Social Services filed for an injunction in Cedar County saying the students’ safety was in jeopardy and the school should close. That case is still playing out in court.
Missouri’s new attorney general, Andrew Bailey, briefly addressed the Agape case after his inaugural ceremony in Jefferson City last week. When asked, he told reporters he planned to continue the state’s case against the school.
After Wednesday’s closure news, Bailey told The Star:
“As Attorney General, my goal is for Missouri to be the safest state in the nation for children,” Bailey said in an email. “I am proud of the work that this office has done to protect the students at Agape, and I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to make sure children throughout the state are able to thrive. This is not the end, and we will continue to pursue justice for victims.”
After the AG’s office filed the injunction last year, the judge allowed workers with DSS and the state’s Children’s Division to be on site to ensure the safety of current students. While they were there, boys approached workers and asked to meet with them, according to a court filing.
“DSS staff took appropriate action for the students to be interviewed,” the document said. “In these interviews, the students reported physical abuse by current Agape employees at times before the Children’s Division workers were present.”
Students also thanked workers for their presence at the school.
Josh Bradney, of California, was an Agape student from 2014 to 2016 and one of more than 20 who have filed lawsuits against the school. He said the news Wednesday moved him to tears.
“I’m speechless,” he said. “I can finally sleep at night, knowing kids are safe.”
